Prayer for the World March 18, 2026
- Mar 17
- 3 min read
Human Trafficking
Yesterday, we celebrated Saint Patrick’s Day. As with many today, Patrick was a victim of human trafficking. May today’s victims find a way out of slavery and find a way to bring Christ’s light into the world as did Saint Patrick.
Song: Christ Before Me · Keith Duke Sacred Dance ℗ 2005 Kevin Mayhew Records
Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ above me, Christ below me.
Christ to left and Christ to right;
Christ within both day and night.
Reflection: Trafficking is a form of modern slavery, where a person is recruited or moved, through force, fraud or deception, for the purpose of exploitation. People who have been trafficked might find themselves subjected to forced labour, sexual exploitation or be compelled to work for criminal enterprises. Some might find themselves trapped in modern slavery through an unsustainable debt – debt bondage – or through threats to their families.
While migration, smuggling and trafficking are separate phenomena, they are closely linked. When immigration laws do not support the movement of people through legal means, people can be forced to take irregular routes – which might rely on people smugglers and sometimes people traffickers – making them more vulnerable to modern slavery. In short, when governments tighten immigration laws, they increase the profitability of smuggling and people trafficking – and ordinary people pay the price. https://www.antislavery.org
Silence:
Petitions:
For Immediate Safety & Rescue: "Loving Father, we seek your divine protection for all who are exploited and enslaved... We beseech you to release them from their chains".
For Healing and Restoration: "God of liberation, heal them of their wounds, protect them from further harm, turn the hearts of their oppressors, and sustain them with hope for a new beginning in safety and peace".
For Survivors' Courage: "Lift them up, asking for courage and resilience as they confront these challenges... Pray that they find the inner strength needed to press forward each day".
For Authorities: "Give strength to people who investigate and prosecute traffickers. Encourage them when they are weary".
For Public Awareness: "Help us to be thankful for our freedom and to know that we are only truly free through our faith in the Lord".
For Support Systems: "Ask that their journey leads them to restoration, allowing them to see possibilities beyond their past and experience joy and purpose".
Silence:
Reflection: His Holiness Pope Francis called upon all men and women of good will in all nations to take a firm stance against human trafficking during the Angelus on Sunday, in anticipation of the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons on July 30th.
“This plague,” he said “reduces many men, women, and children to slavery for the purpose of labor and sexual exploitation, the sale of organs, of vagrancy and forced delinquency.”
Pope Francis noted the relation between migration and human trafficking. “The routes of migration are also often used by traffickers and exploiters to recruit new victims,” he said. Indeed, migrants seeking to improve their living conditions often become vulnerable to human traffickers. After crossing borders, migrants can find themselves trapped in forced labor. Debts accumulated during their transit and the fear of being deported often prevent migrants from denouncing their abusers.
Silence:
Song: Christ Before Me
Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ above me, Christ below me.
Christ to left and Christ to right;
Christ within both day and night.